We’d been on the road for nearly five hours when the satnav decided to play its final trick, sending us down a narrow lane that ended in someone’s driveway. By the time we’d reversed out with an audience of curious sheep, the mood in the car had gone from mildly impatient to properly hangry. Still, the moment we turned onto the seafront in Llandudno and caught our first proper glimpse of the sweep of bay, everything softened. The tide was out, the sand looked almost golden in the late light, and there, tucked just back from the promenade, stood Neptune Cottage—neat, white, and exactly the right size for two people who’d spent far too long arguing over which services to stop at.

The key was waiting in the lockbox as promised, and the little front garden already smelled of salt and lavender. Inside, the cottage felt instantly welcoming: a cosy living room with squashy sofas, a kitchen stocked with the basics, and stairs that creaked in a friendly way. We dumped our bags, opened the back door, and stepped straight onto a tiny patio where two deckchairs faced the water. The sound of waves was just audible over the gulls, and for the first time all day my shoulders dropped.

After a quick cup of tea made with slightly travel-tired teabags, we wandered the short distance to the beach. The air was cooler now, carrying that unmistakable mix of seaweed and frying chips from the kiosks along the front. Families were packing up, and a few hardy swimmers were still braving the shallows. We walked as far as the pier, bought two cones from the nearest van, and sat on a bench watching the lights come on along the promenade. It felt like the sort of evening you don’t plan, the kind that happens when you finally stop rushing.

Back at the cottage, I stood for a moment in the doorway, looking at the little stack of driftwood someone had left by the hearth and the framed map of the bay on the wall. The mishap on the lane already felt like part of the story rather than a frustration, and I realised how rarely we let the journey itself become part of the holiday. Neptune Cottage hadn’t needed to do anything dramatic; it had simply been there, ready, when we finally arrived.